Category Archives: movie news

Note: There’s a lot than can (and has) been written on this subject, but I noticed that virtually all the articles I was seeing tended to shrug off the concern of spoilers on the basis that the franchise is over 20 years old by now. While this is certainly understandable, I decided there was a niche for a more general overview for people who want to go in with a blank slate. I have also seen more than a few comments on social media along the lines of, “The Warcraft trailer is so confusing, I can’t even tell who they’re supposed to be fighting!”

A few things set the Warcraft universe apart from many other popular fantasy settings. One of the most important aspects of Warcraft is that the “sides” (known in-game as the two major factions) are not as cut-and-dried as in traditional good vs evil fantasies.

The Alliance is generally what you’d think of as the “good guys” in more traditional fantasy stories like the Lord of the Rings. Gallant knights in shining armor, gruff but honorable dwarves, etc.

The Horde is mostly made up of races you’d normally think of as the “bad guys,” and in the time period the movie is set in, these are the Orcs, aka the giant green people you’ve seen in the trailers.

The Horde and the Alliance are almost constantly at war in the Warcraft universe, and the upcoming movie will be showing the birth of this decades-long conflict. While “faction pride” is a big thing among fans who like to root for one side or the other, the narrative usually tries to make the point that both sides are at fault; even the “monsters” can be the good guys and even the “good guys” can behave like monsters.

I think this is the part that’s leaving a lot of people who have seen the trailer scratching their heads in confusion. It’s not clear from the trailer who the good guys are or who you’re supposed to be rooting for.

That very thing is the hallmark of the Warcraft franchise. It’s not like the Jedi vs the Sith, the Order of the Phoenix vs the Death Eaters, the fellowship of the ring vs the forces of Sauron, etc. The viewer will be presented with both sides of the conflict, and the narrative will not tell you that either the Orcs or the Humans are the heroes you should root for. That’s what you’re supposed to argue with your friends about when the movie is over.

There is also something akin to a third “faction,” though it’s never really referred to as such. Both the Horde and the Alliance, on occasion, must put aside their differences to fight a common enemy who is forever scheming to wipe out everyone.

This is another hallmark of the franchise. There is an ongoing tug-of-war between those among each faction who cannot forgive the atrocities the other side has committed, and more neutral characters who strive to convince their brethren to work together for the greater good.

And finally, the movie is based off of the original real-time strategy game Warcraft, approximately 30 years before the setting of the extremely popular and more well-known MMORPG (Massively multiplayer online role-playing game) World of Warcraft.

If you enjoy the movie and wish to dive deeper into the Warcraft universe, subscribe to the blog and stay tuned for my upcoming posts on getting started in the World of Warcraft game. In the meantime, check out my Top 10 Favorite Places In World of Warcraft. If you’re a former Warcraft player looking to get back into the game, I wrote a post on the upcoming World of Warcraft: Legion expansion due to release this August.

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The red band Deadpool trailer was released this week to a cacophonous explosion of fan love. It’s every bit as foul-mouthed and fun as long-time fans could have hoped for, and more than makes up for the limp noodle of disappointment that was Wolverine‘s Deadpool.

It might seem contradictory for me to be so excited about this, as I’ve become increasingly bored of the “super GRITTY blah blah blah isn’t afraid to GO THERE blah blah blah so EDGY” trend that has been threatening to suck every last ounce of humor and fun out of the entertainment industry. But with Deadpool, the whole point is that his character really should be edgy and, well, go there. Wherever ‘there’ is.

Deadpool looks like it’s going to be an unabashed joy ride of profanity, violence, and depravity. It’s going to be amazing in large part because the filmmakers aren’t doing that under some horribly misguided attempt at “gritty realism.” This movie evokes Paul Verhoeven’s* works in many ways. It acknowledges that violence and sex are there specifically to titillate the audience, and in doing so ironically respects the viewers more than films that titillate while claiming to be more mature and evolved than older comic and fantasy works. It’s a very refreshing attitude after hearing so many creators in recent years whine that their dark and masochistic snooze fests are just “realistic” rather an attempt to garner enough notoriety to boost sales.

And in a time when both comic book and movie studios have been trying to push for “darker” and “brooding” incarnations of famously optimistic paragons of morality like Captain America and Superman, I hope Deadpool will remind a few executives that these creations shine brightest when they play to the strengths that drew fans to them in the first place. Perhaps if they sit in a dark theater and imagine what Deadpool would have been like if they’d made him a PG-friendly shadow of his true self, they’ll realize it’s just as wasteful to cram Superman-types into Deadpool-shaped molds.

But enough about that. Let’s get to the wicked headshots and fabulous stripper booty. And maybe take a moment to appreciate that this comment was actually typed out and posted by the official 20th Century Fox YouTube channel:

(Please be advised the following trailer is not safe for work/school and features profanity, brief nudity, and violence):

*I totally almost spelled Paul Verhoeven’s name right on the first try. Almost.

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Ben Affleck getting cast as Batman in the upcoming Batman vs Superman film has–as one could easily predict–sent shock waves of rage through the internet. I get it. Really, I do. His acting credits are very mixed, with some spectacular lows dragging down many people’s view of his body of work as a whole.

But he has it in him to be a great actor when he picks the right project (admittedly, that happens a lot more rarely than one would like). I’ve hated quite a few Ben Affleck movies (or to be more blunt, I’ve hated most movies he’s been in), but I can honestly say that’s because I hated the way the films were written and directed; I don’t recall ever watching one of them and having critical feelings towards his skill in the craft of acting. Responsibility for horrendous dialogue, cliched characters, and stupefyingly dull plots doesn’t fall on an actor.

An actor’s job is to be the character the director wants in his or her film. The brutal truth is that most movies coming out of Hollywood run the gamut from just kinda shitty to spectacularly shitty; unless you’re on the radar of the few quality directors, any actor who wants to regularly work in the industry is going to do some pretty awful films.

Perhaps as indie films, crowdfunding, and alternate distribution channels continue to grow and diversify, that’s won’t be the case in the future. Maybe (hopefully) we’re nurturing a generation of creative types who can and will insist on doing movies on their own terms. But most of Ben Affleck’s films, especially the truly lambasted ones, came out long before Kickstarter was even a vague notion in the back of someone’s mind. I don’t blame him for making the decisions he did when the only two options were “arty” independent films almost nobody would ever see and Gigli*.

Ben Affleck has the chops to do justice to Batman. I hope Snyder gives him a great character to work with, combining both the aspects we’ve come to love in Batman and new nuances to this iconic character that will keep us guessing.

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* Okay, I can kinda blame him for Gigli. Plus, you probably would have felt a little cheated if I didn’t find a way to work at least one Gigli reference into this post. Maybe you won’t admit it, but you know deep down it’s totally true.

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George Lucas sold off the Star Wars universe to Disney to the tune of 4 billion dollars. If that announcement isn’t shocking enough, Disney has already set a very approximate date for the next Star Wars film: 2015. (Also, I vote Nathan Fillion for Han Solo) . Disney has a trilogy planned, with more possibly to come after that. There have been hints that we can expect a much bigger Star Wars presence in the Disney parks as well.

Am I terrible, disloyal fan if my very first thought was, “Well, it’s not like they could do a worse job than Lucas?” I love Star Wars. I respect and admire George Lucas for creating it. But I hated the new trilogy. Maybe if the filmmakers are held accountable to someone, rather than being surrounded by hired yes-men, we can expect a modicum of improvement. It won’t be anything like the original Star Wars, but neither were the prequels.

Perhaps the biggest question for the comic book community: Will this impact Dark Horse’s relationship with Star Wars? Can we expect a new comic series from Marvel?